‘Too good for this’: NBA fans go berserk over young gun’s insane debut alongside Aussie

NBA fans have completely lost their marbles at the sight of a highly touted youngster’s incredible debut alongside Aussie Josh Giddey.

Chet Holmgren and Josh Giddey.

The kids are all right in OKC.

Basketball fans have been given a tantalising glimpse of the future as the Oklahoma City Thunder rolled out its young guns at the NBA Summer League on Wednesday (AEST).

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Teams usually treat the off-season tournament as an opportunity to blood fringe players and take another look at youngsters who were overlooked in the NBA draft.

But OKC wasn’t mucking around, putting out a near full-strength starting five of Josh Giddey, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Aaron Wiggins, Aleksej Pokusevski and No. 2 pick Chet Holmgren against the Utah Jazz.

It was Giddey’s first outing since suffering a hip injury at the end of last season and fans were salivating at the chance to see the Australian play alongside seven-foot Holmgren for the first time.

And they didn’t disappoint. In a sensational first quarter, Holmgren had 13 points, three blocks, as well as an assist and a steal.

Chet’s debut quarter: pic.twitter.com/lC3uydGPyo

— Chet Wobgren (@WorldWideWob) July 6, 2022

chet is too good for summer league

— James Herbert (@outsidethenba) July 6, 2022

Chet Holmgren takes a seat.

13 points, 3 blocks, 1 assist, 1 steal and is 3-4 from 3 in 9 minutes.

Unbelievable debut.

— Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) July 6, 2022

He nailed a couple of three pointers and even drained a jump shot that had fans comparing him to Dirk Nowitzki’s iconic fadeaway.

The Thunder dominated the Jazz’s youngsters, winning 98-77. Holmgren finished with a game-high 23 points, six blocks and seven rebounds.

OKC have tanked at various stages over the last few seasons as part of a long term plan to rebuild with draft picks, but their effort at Summer League suggested the Thunder might finally be on the improve next season.

NBA fans absolutely lost their marbles at the sight of Holmgren dominating alongside Giddey.

Two players that will be in OKC for a long, long time pic.twitter.com/P6DeJJXCLa

— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) July 6, 2022

OKC beat writer Brandon Rahbar tweeted: “Everyone before this game: Don’t overreact to the Summer League.

“Me after watching Chet Holmgren and Josh Giddey for 6 minutes: RIP OKC Rebuild 2020-2022.”

The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie said: “Look, I do think that this is a particularly bad summer league Jazz team, but like....SummerThunder just had maybe the most fun Summer League first quarter I’ve seen in a long time.”

With Kevin Durant on the trade table after requesting to leave the Brooklyn Nets, some fans even urged OKC to get Durant back to his former team.

KD has requested a trade to the OKC Thunder Summer League team

— Tommy Beer (@TommyBeer) July 6, 2022

For his part, Giddey was very solid in his return — finishing with 14 points, five rebounds, 11 assists, two blocks and two steals.

I suspect Josh Giddey will only play a game or two of summer league action this year and for good reason. He’s too good for this. It’s fun to watch though, I’ll say that!

— Kane Pitman (@KanePitman) July 6, 2022

Holmgrem only agreed to be interviewed alongside Giddey post game and paid tribute to his Aussie teammate.

“Shout out to my teammates, talking to me, putting me in positions to be successful,” he said.

“Shout out to this guy right here, double double with assists. Great night for him at that helped me a lot. 

Giddey was full of praise for Holmgren.

“The hype that he came in with, the way that he played tonight was big for us,” he said.

“Being a high pick like that, there’s a lot of pressure coming in and he handled it as good as he could have.

“It makes my job really easy playing with someone like him who can stretch the floor, finish at the ring. He protects me. He’s got my back on the defensive end.

“Love playing with him. It’s been one game and the chemistry’s only getting stronger.”